Revisionist History
by BranwenOSV
Summary: (r/RWBY MonCon story) After the breach in Vale, the council orders major changes to the school curriculum that leaves a sour taste in one professor's mouth.


It was quite an extraordinary week for the professors of Beacon. What was supposed to be a more relaxed outing with taking freshman students on their first huntsman mission turned into a fiasco when the city of Vale suddenly had a breach in the town square. Thankfully due to the early morning hours when it took place, the amount of injured civilians was minimal, and Ironwood's army wiped out the Grimm efficiently. While Ironwood was being praised for his quick work, the huntsmen of Vale were criticized for allowing this to happen.

With the mission week now over, Port and Oobleck were in the teacher's lounge to discuss the upcoming curriculum for the rest of the semester.

"Quite an adventurous week, wouldn't you say Bart?" said Port. "I haven't felt this much adrenaline since the time I wrangled an Ursa with my bare hands."

"Indeed," said Oobleck, sipping his start-of-the-day coffee. "Right now I just want to get back to teaching again. These events will make for great material to teach these next generation of huntsmen."

"If we still have jobs," replied Port, suddenly losing his usual pep. "Word going around is that with Ozpin under heavy scrutiny, we could be seeing a major shift in power at Beacon."

"I doubt the council will suddenly force teachers out of a job in the middle of a semester. That would mean they would have to spend time finding suitable replacements, and we all know how much they hate doing actual work."

As Port and Oobleck continued bantering, Ozpin and Goodwitch entered the lounge. They both carried a stack of textbooks and syllabuses to the office while looking displeased with themselves. The professors could tell this displeasure wasn't from simply carrying around the heavy workload.

"The news isn't good, is it Ozpin?" asked Port.

"Let me just say that should you be leaving, we'll be right there with you," said Oobleck.

"Thank you," said Ozpin. "Fortunately, the council is letting me stay as headmaster for now, so long as we follow their newly approved curriculum."

"A new curriculum? But we've already had our plans laid out for this semester!"

"The council has decided to revamp the curriculum given the current events," replied Goodwitch. "These will be the new textbooks used for the rest of the semester, along with the topics they will cover."

Port and Oobleck took the syllabuses for their respective classes and skimmed through to spot the changes made. Port noticed his class still had him teach about the Grimm themselves, but nowhere did it list when the students would actually participate in fighting them, one of the most important aspects of the class in the first place. Oobleck had it even worse; entire historical events he was going to teach were suddenly cut in favor of teaching trivial nonsense such as international cuisine and dancing routines. If he didn't value the taste of his coffee so much, he would have spat it out in reaction to these revisions.

"This is preposterous!" exclaimed Port. "They're cutting all field training! How do they expect these students to grow as protectors of the people when we take out one of the most essential lessons they'll need to know?"

"The council said that field training has become too dangerous for students to handle," said Goodwitch.

"That is the biggest load of dirt I've ever heard! We know what this is really all about! It's the council trying to score political points to save face after the breach!"

"Preaching to the choir," sighed Ozpin. "But if any of us want to keep our jobs, we don't have a choice."

"Have you seen what they want me to teach?" said Oobleck. "No mentions of either the Great War or the Faunus Revolution? Do they not think students should learn about the two biggest historical events of our time?"

"The council believes reminding them of past conflicts will cause unnecessary tension between the students. We...or rather, THEY, can't have students feel uncomfortable learning about government oppression and racism."

"History isn't meant to be comfortable! I'm not teaching this revisionist garbage. Let them fire me for all I care!"

"Calm down Bartholomew," said Goodwitch. "Now is not the time to start fighting against the council's decisions. The more negative attention we bring to ourselves, the deeper Beacon's problems will become."

"Can I at least teach the students about current events?"

"The council also said to not bring up any mentions of current events save for the Vytal Festival," said Ozpin.

Oobleck could barely form the words to express how absurd these changes were. Instead his quickly finished his coffee, grabbed his original history textbook, and zipped out of the lounge.

"That man is going to get himself fired," said Goodwitch. "I'll have a word with him."

"Allow me to speak to Bart," said Port. "You already have enough to worry about."

Port went to the place he knew he would find Oobleck: Sitting on a bench in the grassy field near the communications tower. The field was historically known for being the site of the Queen of Vale's speech declaring war nearly a century ago. Oobleck was drinking his pre-class coffee while reading from his now unapproved history textbook.

"I've never seen you this angry Bart; not even after that time we hid your favorite mug."

"A harmless prank like that is nothing compared to what they're doing to our students," said Oobleck. "History should be one of the most important subjects a student should study, but time after time I see these kids lose interest. They're more concerned about who they're going to the dance with than the importance of being a huntsman. I've seen the kids look at this stuff and wonder what's the point of learning any of it. They don't understand how today's events are a result of what's been detailed in the books, and now? Now I have to teach them things I know they'll definitely won't remember by the time they graduate."

"These kids are brighter than you think," replied Port. "I've seen many students come up to me wanting to learn more about how I've vanquished Grimm over the years. You think they may not be interested, but believe me, they are."

"Even if they were interested, it also doesn't help that the council are the ones ultimately making the decisions for what these students can do. Port...I'm worried we could be seeing the end of huntsmen. Atlas' military has turned into a robot factory. The public is starting to believe these robot soldiers are the future of protecting Remnant, and the council is playing into it by making these changes to hinder us."

"You're getting too worked up Bart. The council may be trying to hinder us to curry favor with the public, but huntsmen will not be a thing of the past, as long as these kids continue to carry the spirit of what being a huntsman is all about. But they're going to need our help to keep that spirit alive."

The bells of the Beacon clock tower began to go off, indicating it was time for the first classes of the day to start.

"These new lessons are ridiculous, but trust me, your students are going to find them just as absurd as you do. Don't give up hope just yet Bart."

"I hope you're right Pete," said Oobleck. Oobleck drank the last of his coffee and quickly ran for his first class.

#

With his lightning fast speed, Oobleck arrived at his classroom before any of the students did. Oobleck went to his desk and saw his new book and syllabus waiting for him. One look at the cover and he already wanted to chuck it out of the window. The old book's cover had images of huntsmen going to war and the Grimm they fought against; this new one looked like it was taking place at a carnival. Oobleck had no doubt they chose such a ridiculous cover to make sure no one was triggered by the images of war. Oobleck put away his old book and made the preparations for today's lesson as the students for that morning began filing in.

"Good morning students," greeted Oobleck, mustering all he could to pretend like nothing was bothering him. "On your desks you'll notice a new syllabus along with the new edition of the textbook we'll be using for the rest of the semester. I expect you all to follow this new syllabus accordingly. Now, open your books to page 159. Today we're going to learn about international customs presented during the Vytal Festival."

Oobleck grabbed his mug full of coffee and turned to the diagrams in the front of the room. Instead of maps and timelines of important locations, it was now full of pictures of people from around the world celebrating their traditions during the Vytal Festival. As loud as Oobleck can be, he can still hear his students behind him whispering about what was going on.

"I heard Ironwood is secretly working for the White Fang," someone whispered.

"Sounds like a cover up to me," another whispered.

"I heard Vacuo is sending spies to attack Beacon," claimed another.

"Excuse me!" shouted Oobleck. "Is there a reason we're having conversations during class?"

"Mister Oobleck, what were the White Fang trying to pull off with that attack?"

"You mean the breach from last week? I'm afraid it's quite complicated and I do not have the time to explain. Now, as I was saying-"

"It was a terrorist attack, plain and simple!" shouted one of the students.

"If it was Faunus terrorism, why were they lead by Torchwick?" asked a Faunus student.

"And why would they use Grimm instead of attacking head on?" asked another student.

"I heard it's actually the Atlas government conducting a false flag attack!" exclaimed someone from the back.

"Ahem!" shouted Oobleck, slamming his mug on the table. The classroom instantly went silent. "It's obvious to me you kids are more interested in talking about last week's events then learning about some tribal dancing. I want to take a survey; raise your hand if you would rather I waste today's lecture on some event that is not going to be on any test, and technically you can't be credited for learning."

Oobleck made sure to emphasize how learning about the breach was not going to matter for their grades. He expected only the few honor roll students to raise their hand, but to his surprise, a lot more hands came up. In fact, after surveying the entire room, he noticed every single hand go up.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I could teach you about the events leading up to last week's catastrophe, but nothing you learn about it will affect your final grade for this semester. You'll still be expected to do all the work listed on the syllabus, meaning all of you will be doing extra work for essentially nothing."

"With all due respect sir," said one of the students, "that breach is way more interesting to learn about then this Vytal Festival crap."

"Is that how you all feel?"

Oobleck waited for the hands to start coming down, but they all stayed up in defiance. Oobleck had to turn around to prevent the students from seeing him wipe the tear coming down his eye.

"All right then," said Oobleck, tossing the new book aside and bringing out his old book. "If any of you still have the old textbook, you can follow along on page 204. Now, to understand what happened last week, we have to go all the way back to the original Faunus Revolution."

Oobleck spent the rest of the lecture teaching what he taught best, with the renewed hope that the next generation of huntsmen were not a lost cause.


End file.
